Rangers Unleashed
by Neal Wolf
Summary: The Rangers and Professor Nimnul... in Acmetropolis? The CDRR/Loonatics Unleashed crossover nobody saw coming!


_**New York City, evening...**_

A light spring rain had brought darkness early to the Big Apple, but that didn't deter the passengers of the tiny aircraft making its way to a hillside laboratory.

"Oi gotta hand it to ya, Gedjit, luv," Monty commented from the back. "Puttin' a canopy on the Rangerwing moight be yore best oidea yet."

"Yeah," Chip said with a nod, "but it makes it kind'a hard to see in this rain... couldn't you have included windshield wipers?"

"Darn it, Chip, I _said_ I forgot something," Gadget told him with a sidelong smirk. "Besides, according to the onboard instrumentation I installed, we're almost to Nimnul's lab."

"How'd he get outta the funny farm in the first place?" Dale wondered aloud.

"Who knows?" replied Chip. "Knowing him, he probably made some dimensional teleporter thing during Arts & Crafts time..."

"Hang on, everyone; I'm taking her in." The plane banked slightly as Gadget pulled it into a gentle dive, using her instruments to locate an open window.

Inside, Prof. Norton Nimnul was cackling with glee. "Now that I've made the necessary modifications, I can use the dimensional teleporter I made during Arts & Crafts time to get in and out of bank vaults as easily as I got out of the looney bin! I just need to up the power a little bit..." As he made adjustments to his device, his attention was caught by the sound of twin battery-powered motors. Before he could react, lightning struck a nearby transformer, sending a power surge through his lab's electrical system... which the dimensional teleporter was still connected to...

A bright flash of light later, the occupants of the Rangerwing were in less than high spirits. "What happened?! That flash scorched the windshield; I can't see a thing!"

"Not only that, it also threw the instruments out of whack. I need a moment for them to re-calibrate."

"Oi don' wanna sound loike an alarmist, but oi've been up with yer dad enough toimes ta know what a plane goin' down feels loike when I'm in it!"

Gadget studied the instrument panel, her calm demeanor belying the panic that was starting to set in. "Well, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is the instruments are back up."

"What's the bad news?" Dale asked nervously.

"The bad news is I'm picking up a building... _and we're heading right for it!_"

Within that very building, another conversation was taking place. "We've got an unidentified aircraft on a collision course with the tower," one voice said. "No response to communications... initial readings show it to be very primitive construction."

"Any idea where it came from?" asked a second voice.

"None," the first replied. "It just appeared out of nowhere. The tower's defense systems can easily shoot it down before it hits us."

"Not an option," a third voice, this one female, chimed in. "I'm picking up thoughts... someone's aboard that thing, and it's out of control."

"So we gotta bring 'em down without damaging 'em," the second speaker said, "or us. Think you can do it?"

The first speaker sighed. "I'm not used to handling something that big, but I can try..."

Back aboard the Rangerwing, Gadget struggled desperately to get the craft back under control. "It's no use, guys, I can't get... huh?" Outside the scorched glass of the canopy, all five passengers could see an odd green glow surrounding the plane. Gadget immediately looked back to her panel. "The instruments are going berserk... this must be some sort of magnetic field."

"Well, whatever it is, it seems to have stopped us from crashing," Chip observed, noting that inertia had released its grip on them all. After a moment, the Rescue Rangers felt their plane settle gently to the ground and got the canopy open to look around.

Two figures stood outside the Rangerwing, roughly the same height as the Rangers, both wearing what appeared to be black tights with a different-colored triangle, point down, on the chest. One, what appeared to be a green coyote, slumped to the ground, seemingly from exhaustion. The other, a yellow rabbit, looked at the Rangers skeptically as he spoke in something of a Brooklyn accent. "Somehow, I get da feelin' you guys ain't from Acmetropolis..."

_**Acmetropolis, evening...**_

Ace studied the figures disembarking from the crude aircraft carefully: two chipmunks, two mice, and a fly... all of them looking more than a little disoriented. Before he had a chance to say anything further, the female mouse pointed over towards Tech. "Golly, is he okay?" she asked.

Tech picked himself up off the landing platform, shaking his head slightly. "Yeah, I'll live... using my magnetic powers to manipulate something as big as an airplane just took more out of me than I expected."

"_**WOWIE-ZOWIE!**_" one of the chipmunks, sporting a red nose and loud, flower-print shirt, bounded over his companions and ran up to the coyote. "You mean you're a really for real _super-hero_?!"

"You_definitely_ ain't from around here," Ace noted aloud, "if ya never hoid'a the Loonatics. Name's Ace Bunny, and this is Tech E. Coyote".

"We're the Rescue Rangers," the other chipmunk, this one wearing a bomber jacket and a fedora, told him, "and to be honest, we're not really even sure where 'here' is. I'm Chip, the goofball hanging on your friend is Dale, and this is Gadget, Monterey Jack, and Zipper".

"Me mates call me Monty," the big mouse added.

"Rescue Rangers, huh?" Ace couldn't hide a small grin. "Looks like _you_ was da ones gettin' rescued..."

Tech had pried the chipmunk introduced as Dale off of him and was scrutinizing the aircraft. "Personally, I'd like to know how you came by this vehicle. Some of the parts on this thing look like you raided the Jolly Green Giant's trash dumpster... no offense."

"None taken," Gadget (as the female mouse had been named) said with a small grin. "Actually, I built it; I don't know what you mean about giants, though; they're all normal, human-sized items..."

"Uh, lady," Ace cut in, "I hate ta break it to ya, but _we_ are human-sized items, though da 'normal' part is debatable. I think ya need ta tell us what all happened up to you guys landin' here..."

As the Rescue Rangers finished their narrative, Tech nodded thoughtfully, a small grin playing at his lips. "I know dat look," Ace muttered with a sigh. "Okay, Tech, make wit da big woids."

"Well, from the sound of it, the lightning strike and resulting power surge triggered something this Professor Nimnul had in his lab which generated a dimensional rift, which in turn would mean that the five of you are from a different plane of existence than us," Tech explained. "Somehow, by crossing over into our dimension, you and your plane were enlarged on a molecular level so as to be more compatible with the physical laws of our world."

Though the remaining assembled group on the landing platform looked dumbfounded, Gadget simply nodded. "That would explain the flash of light in the lab, as well as how your tower here seemed to come out of nowhere to us. The problem now is, even if I get the Rangerwing flyable again, which will most likely only take a few minutes, we can't exactly just fly back home. Any suggestions, Tech?"

"If I go back into our surveillance system, I can probably get the energy signature that would have to have preceded your arrival and rig up a dimensional portal to send you guys back home. The only foreseeable problem would be making the portal big enough for your plane to fit, too."

The mouse woman considered this for a moment. "What about making the portal generator a projector, as opposed to enclosing it in a frame? We can use a simple lens aperture to keep the portal from being _too_ big."

"Y'know, that should work..." the Rangers, minus Gadget, cringed at Tech's words.

Before Ace could question their reaction, a familiar voice sped through his intercom. "HeychiefyouandTechbettergetinhereZodavia'sonthe lineandyouknowhowshehatestobekeptwaiting."

"On our way, Rev," Ace replied, tapping the intercom on his wrist, then turned to the Rangers. "C'mon in; we'll see what the boss-lady wants, then do what we can to get you guys back where you belong."

* * *

Gadget looked around wide-eyed as their two hosts led the Rangers into the tower. "Incredible... I've never even _seen_ technology this advanced."

"It's really only somewhat advanced from the standards of Acmetropolis," Tech told her over his shoulder. "Judging by the equipment on your plane, I'd hazard a guess that we're the equivalent of a couple of hundred years in your future."

"Well, it still looks like somethin' outta 'Space Wars: Revenge of the Tish'," commented Dale.

The passageway they'd been led down opened up into some sort of conference room, where the Rangers were met by a technicolor menagerie: another rabbit (this one very obviously female, and not just because of her pink fur), a black duck, a red roadrunner, and a purple Tasmanian devil. "Rescue Rangers, meet the rest of the team," Ace announced. "Lexi Bunny..."

"No relation," the female rabbit cut in with a smirk.

"... Danger Duck, Rev Runner, and Slam Tasmanian," Ace finished, giving the one he'd called Lexi a sidelong glare.

"Gra blabbada ba Zodabia," grunted the devil, introduced as Slam.

"Yeah, we've got a vid-call to take," said Tech as he and the others took seats around a circular table. As the Rangers watched, the image of a blonde woman surrounded by rainbow colors sprung up from the table.

"What's up, Zodavia?" Ace asked nonchalantly.

"Loonatics, I'm aware of your current situation, but we have a somewhat larger problem," the image replied. "Mastermind has escaped, and it appears she did not act alone."

"Oh, swell," the duck replied with a groan. "One'a those clowns she hooked up with when she was working for your brother?"

The image shook her head. "No, the three of them are still detained. Tech, you stay behind and help our guests get home; the rest of you, go to the Maximum Security Detention Facility and find out how Mastermind got out and where she went."

"We're on it," said Ace with a nod. "Okay, folks, let's jet."

"Ms. Zodavia?" Chip put in. "Would it be okay if we went along? Solving crimes is what we do back home..."

Zodavia thought about this a moment. "Very well, but be very careful. Mastermind is a dangerous super-villain, and there's no telling what you may run into. Ace, fill them in on what you're up against on the way. Zodavia out." The image winked out of existence.

"I'll stay here and help Tech," Gadget told them. "Who knows the Rangerwing better than I do? Besides, two heads _are_ better than one."

"Okay," Chip responded with a nod, then headed off after the Loonatics, Monty, Dale, and Zipper in tow. "Rescue Rangers, away!"

* * *

Ace was finishing his explanation as the Loonaporter settled to the ground outside the Acmetropolis Maximum Security Detention Center. "So this Mastermind is some sort of super-inventor?" Monty asked.

"A super-inventor wit a bonus," Ace replied. "She can make anything metal she touches inta some kind'a gizmo or weapon. She actually made a robot out of a pen once."

"Bet she still couldn't outdo Gadget," said Dale under his breath.

As the two teams filed into the facility, they were greeted by the warden. "Loonatics, good to see you again; I wish it was under better circumstances... who's this?"

"Rescue Rangers, at your service," Chip told him, tipping his hat slightly.

"Let's just say they're friends from outta town an' leave it at dat," Ace explained. "It's a long story..."

"It'd take _Rev_ about five seconds to explain it," added Lexi in response to the warden's questioning look.

The warden nodded and led them to a bank of surveillance displays. "We had a power surge just moments before Mastermind got loose. Audio was knocked out, but we did manage to get this video image." He pressed a button on the console, and an image of a very short woman with an inflated head appeared on one of the displays. A flash of light later, she was joined by an equally short, pudgy man who was mostly bald and sported a red moustache.

"Nimnul!" Chip cried.

"How'd_he_ get here?" asked Dale, to which Zipper squeaked something in reply.

The Rangers nodded, but the Loonatics looked at them curiously. "He said ol' Nimnul prob'ly got heah the same way we did," Monty told them.

"You understood that?" Duck asked.

"Blabba goo bra ga bee," Slam grunted.

Duck nodded. "Yeah, I guess it _would_ seem weird to them that we can understand you."

"Gettin' back to da matter at hand," Ace cut in, turning everyone's attention back to the monitor. The two figures on the screen seemed to be discussing something. "Wonder what they're sayin'..."

"From what we know of Nimnul and what you've told us about this Mastermind, it can't be anything good," Chip put in. The pair on the monitor held up a device the man had pulled out of his lab coat, then the two of them vanished.

"Rev, can ya track 'em?"

"AlreadyonitAce." The roadrunner closed his eyes for a second; when he opened them again, they glowed bright red. "Igotem... thirtyfive kilometersnorthwestofhere... rightinthemiddleof... uhoh."

All of them looked at him oddly, but Lexi was the first to speak up. "Right in the middle of uh-oh?"

"RightinthemiddleoftheAcmetropolisscrapyard."

Each Ranger's and Loonatic's eyes widened as they spoke in unison. "Uh-oh."

* * *

Ace set the Loonaporter down in front of the entrance to the Acmetropolis Scrapyard, then turned to the Rangers. "No offense, but I tink you guys should hang back an' let us handle dis."

"_**WHAT?!**_" Monty roared, already on his feet. "The Rescue Raynjahs _never_ hang back from a punch-up!"

Chip was also on his feet, holding the Aussie mouse back by his shoulders. "I hate to say it, Monty, but he may be right; the only other time we dealt with someone with super-powers, Dale had them, too."

"Yeah, and _I_ did all the fighting while you guys strung ropes everywhere," the red-nosed chipmunk added from his seat.

Monty growled slightly, then sighed and sat back down. "Foine, but that doesn't mean oi hafta loike it."

The Loonatics began filing out of the aircraft; Lexi turned back to the Rangers and pointed to a small panel on the controls. "This is the emergency beacon; if it starts flashing red, we've got a problem. Just so you know, though, it'll also alert Tech; if you guys think you can help, feel free, but..."

"But don't expect it to go off," Duck finished with an arrogant smirk. "After all, we're professionals."

After the Loonatics were out, Zipper buzzed something to Monty. "Too roight," the mouse replied. "That bloke's got a thing or three to learn about manners."

"No kiddin'," agreed Dale. "Sheesh, talk about an attitude."

Chip gave his old friend a playful smirk. "_This_ from the guy who wanted the rest of the Rangers to be his side-kicks when _he_ had super-powers?"

"Hey, I got over it..."

"Sure ya did," Monty chimed in, "when you needed us ta save your tail..."

"Geez, how many times do I have to apologize for the same thing?"

* * *

"Stay sharp, troops," Ace told the rest of the Loonatics. "No tellin' _what_ Ms. Bighead has waitin' fer us..."

"Ah, Loonatics, so good to see you again..." a familiar voice came from behind them. Mastermind stood atop a sizable pile of scrapped vehicles, the pudgy man from the video file beside her. "Allow me to introduce Professor Norton Nimnul, perhaps the only man in existence as brilliant as I am."

"Aw, a match made in heaven," Lexi said with a smirk.

"I was thinking more the _other_ direction," added Duck.

"Eh, we hoid of 'im," Ace told the villainess. "In fact, we ran inta some friends'a his not too long ago."

"Friends of _mine_?" the professor looked at him puzzled. "But I don't have any... I mean, all of _my_ friends are back where I came from; what you're saying is impossible."

"Believe what ya want, Prof," the rabbit shrugged. "So you gonna come along peacefully, Balloon Head, or do we gotta get rough?"

Mastermind shook her head and sighed. "Ever the sign of the inferior mind to resort to violence. Norton, dear, why don't you show them the present we made for them?"

"With pleasure, Mallory, my sweet," Nimnul chuckled evilly, then pressed a series of buttons on a previously-hidden remote control. A bubble of energy formed around each of the Loonatics. "Welcome to the Nimnul/Mastermind Diabolical Device, you pet shop rejects!"

Slam growled, then launched himself into Tornado Mode. However, the tornado dissipated as soon as he formed it. "Huh?"

"Each field is specifically calibrated to counter your individual powers," Nimnul explained. "Yours, Mr. Tasmanian, starts spinning whenever you form one of your tornadoes, but in the opposite direction, negating the tornado itself. The roadrunner's includes a paralysis field that affects him from the neck down."

"Yep... he'sright... can'tmove..." Rev confirmed.

Duck shook his head and grinned at the pair. "You don't really think a force field will hold _me_, do you?" With a flash of light, he quacked out of view. A moment later, he reappeared... in the exact same place. "Hey, what gives?"

"_That_ force field will hold you," Mastermind laughed. "I spent enough time around Sypher when he'd stolen your powers to figure out how they work. Your field inhibits the matter/energy conversion that allows you to teleport."

Ace had been unleashing the full power of his eye-beams at his field, to no effect. He finally stopped and looked at his teammates. "Guys, I tink we got a problem..."

* * *

The male Rangers sat aboard the Loonaporter, uneasily waiting for some word of what was going on. Suddenly, the section of the control panel that Lexi had pointed out to them earlier began flashing red. "They're in trouble," Chip announced, having noticed the beacon first. "Come on, we gotta help them!"

Dale leaned back in his seat and grimaced. "Aw, let ol' Big-beak deal with it himself."

"After all," Monty added mockingly, "they're professionals..."

"And we're Rescue Rangers," replied Chip. "It's our job to help people in trouble, regardless of their personality. If we always took the attitude you guys are taking, Canina probably would've been killed by her stand-in."

Dale and Monty looked at each other, then sighed and stood. "Chippah, do you _always_ hafta be roight?"

"I'm the leader," Chip said with a wink. "It's in the job description. Now let's go!"

The Rangers carefully made their way through the scrapyard, stopping behind a pile of old vehicles when they heard voices. Peeking around the corner, they saw Nimnul and the woman from the video at the Detention Center standing on another pile of scrap; below them were the Loonatics in their force bubbles.

"Well, we got 'em," Nimnul grinned. "What part of this city should we take over first?"

Mastermind shook her enlarged head. "None yet; we're still missing one... and it's that one I want the most. For now, we'll wait. I'm sure Tech won't leave his friends hanging."

"Okay, so how do we get 'em outta there?" Dale asked quietly.

Chip thought a moment. "I'll bet that thing Nimnul's holding controls the force fields. If we can get it away from him, we can probably figure out how to deactivate it."

"Roight; Zippah, ol' pal, looks loike it's up ta you."

"Right!" the fly squeaked, snapping a quick salute, then flew up toward the pair of villains.

A look of surprise crossed Mastermind's face upon seeing Zipper heading toward them. "That's got to be the biggest housefly I've ever seen..."

"Strange," said Nimnul, somewhat puzzled, "that fly somehow looks familiar..." Before he could continue, the muscid snatched the remote control for the device out of his hands. "Hey! Come back here with that!"

"I just hope he doesn't hit the orange button that releases the force fields," Mastermind said, turning to Nimnul but keeping her eyes on Zipper.

Upon hearing this, Zipper took a quick look at the keypad. Finding the orange button, he pressed it... and was zapped as the control electrified itself. He dropped the control, which fell into Mastermind's hand; soon after, the fly found himself trapped in a force field of his own.

Mastermind smirked at their newest prisoner. "You didn't think I'd make it_that_ easy, did you?" She then smiled at her companion's look of surprise. "I had a feeling the Loonatics would bring back-up... call it woman's intuition... so I prepared appropriately."

"Let them go, Nimnul!" Chip yelled as he, Dale, and Monty came into view.

Everyone assembled could almost see the light bulb turn on over the professor's head. "Wait... those rodents... my modemizer! How did _you_ get here?!"

"The same way you did, ya crackpot!" Monty hollered back. "Whatever you did, ya dragged us inta this looney-tune world along with ya! Now, let me mates free, an' oi'll considah leavin' some'a yer skin on!"

"Far be it from me to keep you separated from your friends..." Mastermind keyed a few commands into the remote, which sent the force field holding Zipper hurtling at the other Rangers. Just before it hit, it vanished, only to reappear surrounding all of them.

"Great," Dale said dejectedly. "Now what do we do, Chip?"

"Elementary, my dear dummy," the chipmunk replied with a wink. "Tech also got that emergency signal, and we still have another ace in the hole those two don't know about..."

* * *

Tech grinned as he finished tightening the last bolt into place, then laid back on the platform under the Rangerwing's nose. "There. The dimensional portal projector is ready to go. How are things coming on your end, Ms. Hackwrench?"

A fall of blonde hair tumbled over the edge of the aircraft as the mouse it was attached to leaned over. "Just finished installing those new instruments you gave me... and would you please call me Gadget? I'm sorry, but I feel kind'a silly saying Mr. Coyote..."

The canine chuckled and was about to respond when a light started flashing on his wrist. "The emergency beacon... the guys are in trouble." He pulled himself out from under the Rangerwing and slipped on his jet pack, wings, engines, and control handles unfolding from the device. "As Ace would say, time for Plan B. You ready?"

Gadget slipped into the pilot's seat and flipped a few switches, bringing the Rangerwing's twin engines to life. "Roger Wilbury; let's go pay our fellow geniuses a visit..."

The only two individuals still loose at the scrap yard were discussing their next move when the sound of the jet pack's thrusters reached their ears. "Just like clockwork," Mastermind sneered, then held the remote out to her cohort. "Norton, would you be a sweetheart and do the honors when he lands?"

Nimnul took the offered device and chuckled. "Why, I would be delighted, Lady Mallory." The pair watched as Tech settled to the ground, then a keystroke later, he also was surrounded by a force field.

"Welcome to your new kennel, dog-breath!" Mastermind called with a fiendish glee. "It's specially equipped with an electromagnetic field of the opposite polarity of your powers."

"You don't say?" asked Tech. "Good thing I came prepared, then." He then pulled a small metal ball from a compartment in his pack and, shielding his eyes, hurled it at the ground at his feet. A brilliant flash of light later... nothing had changed.

"An EMP grenade?" Nimnul smirked. "We discussed Mallory's last encounter with you lot; the device's power is transmitted from this control, which is equipped with ablative plating. It's impervious to electromagnetic pulses."

"You didn't seriously think you could beat me the same way twice, did you?" Mastermind sneered. "I'm insulted."

"Actually, no, I didn't," Tech grinned back. "That wasn't an EMP; it was a simple flash bomb... a signal."

"A signal? For what?" As if in answer to Nimnul's question, the Rangerwing dove from high in the clouds. A beam of energy shot forth from the nose, surrounding Nimnul and forming a disk of swirling colors beneath his feet, which the hapless professor fell through, remote and all. As the portal closed, the force fields holding the heroes winked out of existence.

Mastermind, now alone, chuckled nervously. "I don't suppose we could discuss this rationally?"

**Epilogue, Pt. 1**

"Well, that should do it," said Tech, leaning on the dimensional portal projector; he had just removed it from the Rangerwing's nose and mounted it on a tripod. "I widened the lens aperture, so now the portal will be big enough for your plane. We're all set to send you guys home."

"Thanks for da help wit Mastermind," Ace grinned, extending a hand to Chip. "You guys must really be somethin' else back where ya come from."

"Well, we try," the Rangers' leader blushed a bit, taking the bunny's hand in a firm handshake. "I hope you understand when I say I hope we don't see each other again."

"Likewise," the leader of the Loonatics chuckled.

"Um, before you guys leave, I wanted to say something," Duck held his hands behind his back as he spoke. "I, uh... well, that is... sorry I doubted you guys; if it hadn't been for Gadget, we would've been sunk."

"Aw, no 'ard feelings, mate," Monty said as he clapped the duck on the back. "T'ain't the first toime someone underestimated us."

"Why, Duck, I'm impressed," Zodavia's voice came from behind the group as her image sprung to life from a nearby holo-projector. "It shows a great deal of character to admit when you were wrong."

"... and Duck _is_ a character, all right," Lexi added with a smirk.

"Nimnul is back in his home dimension, and Mastermind is back in custody," Zodavia continued. "Good work, all of you, Loonatics and Rangers both. Zodavia out." The image then vanished as soon as it appeared.

"Speaking of Nimnul," said Gadget, "we need to figure out how we're going to get him back in the nuthouse". She slipped into the Rangerwing's pilot seat, powering up the engines. "All aboard for home!"

**Epilogue, Pt. 2**

Mastermind sat stewing in her cell. "We had them, blast it all, _we had them_! If it hadn't been for Tech and that mouse girl..." She pulled a small device from her back pocket and looked it over. Its plastic construction had prevented its detection as she was being processed; unfortunately, it also prevented her powers from having any effect on it. There was a small engraving on one section of the casing:

Mallory,

Don't forget me!

Norton

She tapped the device absently against her chin and grinned. "I wonder what he'd do on a _second_ date..."


End file.
